Secukinumab Injection
Secukinumab is a targeted biologic injection used to treat inflammatory skin and joint conditions including plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis, enthesitis-related arthritis, and hidradenitis suppurativa.
🧬 Where this information comes from Click to expand
The clinical label records used on this page are FDA-filed Structured Product Labeling (SPL) retrieved through openFDA. We identified 1 clinical label set within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, strengths, and NDC product-record counts are built separately from matching FDA National Drug Code Directory records. The linked DailyMed document is a representative official source for verification, not the page’s only clinical source. View the linked label on DailyMed →
📖 Secukinumab Injection: Patient Information Guide
A plain-language walkthrough of Secukinumab Injection — what it treats, how it works, how it’s taken, side effects, warnings and interactions. Tap any section to expand it.
🎯What it's used for▾
Secukinumab injection (Cosentyx) is approved to treat a range of inflammatory immune-driven conditions affecting the skin, joints, and spine.
- Moderate to severe plaque psoriasis: Cosentyx is approved for adults and children 6 years and older who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy
- Active psoriatic arthritis (PsA): Cosentyx subcutaneous injection is approved for adults and children 2 years and older; Cosentyx IV infusion is approved for adults only
- Active ankylosing spondylitis (AS): Cosentyx subcutaneous injection is approved for adults and children 12 and older; Cosentyx IV infusion is approved for adults only
- Active non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA): Cosentyx (subcutaneous and IV) is approved for adults with objective signs of inflammation only
- Active enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA): Cosentyx subcutaneous injection is approved for children 4 years and older who weigh at least 15 kg
- Moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS): Cosentyx subcutaneous injection is approved for adults and children 12 and older who weigh at least 30 kg
⚙️How it works▾
Secukinumab is a human monoclonal antibody — a precision-engineered protein that selectively binds to interleukin-17A (IL-17A), a naturally occurring immune signaling molecule. In conditions like psoriasis and inflammatory arthritis, IL-17A is overproduced and drives excessive inflammation. By blocking IL-17A from attaching to its receptor, secukinumab interrupts this inflammatory chain reaction and reduces the skin plaques, joint inflammation, and pain these conditions cause.
Elevated IL-17A levels have been found in psoriatic skin plaques, HS lesions, and in the blood of patients with PsA, AS, and nr-axSpA — which is why targeting this specific pathway is effective across these conditions.
💊How it's taken▾
Cosentyx is given as an injection — either subcutaneously (under the skin) or by intravenous (IV) infusion for eligible adult patients. The subcutaneous route involves a loading phase with weekly injections, followed by maintenance dosing every 4 weeks; adults with hidradenitis suppurativa who need more control may receive doses every 2 weeks.
- Subcutaneous injections can be self-administered by trained adult patients or given by a caregiver; children must have an adult caregiver administer doses
- Cosentyx IV infusion is only for adults with PsA, AS, or nr-axSpA and must be given by a healthcare professional in a clinical setting over 30 minutes
- Doses are weight-based for pediatric patients and condition-specific for adults — always follow your prescriber's exact instructions
- Cosentyx can be taken with or without food; if you miss a dose, contact your healthcare provider for guidance
🤒Side effects — in detail▾
The most common side effects with Cosentyx include:
- Nasopharyngitis (cold-like symptoms — runny nose, sore throat)
- Diarrhea
- Upper respiratory tract infection
- Rhinitis (nasal inflammation)
- Oral herpes
- Pharyngitis (throat inflammation)
- Hives (urticaria)
- Rhinorrhea (runny nose)
More serious reactions that require prompt medical attention include severe infections, signs of a serious allergic reaction (swelling of the face or throat, trouble breathing), symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (severe abdominal pain or blood in stool), and severe eczema-like skin eruptions. Low white blood cell counts (neutropenia) have also been observed, particularly in pediatric patients.
⚠️Warnings & precautions▾
- Serious infections: Cosentyx lowers immune defenses and raises infection risk. Serious bacterial, viral, fungal, and opportunistic infections — including some fatal cases — have been reported. Tell your doctor about any history of chronic or recurring infections before starting.
- Tuberculosis (TB): You must be screened for TB before starting Cosentyx. Latent TB must be treated first. People with a history of latent TB have developed active TB while on Cosentyx.
- Inflammatory bowel disease: Cosentyx can worsen or trigger Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. It is not approved to treat Crohn's disease. Use with caution if you have IBD, and report any new bowel symptoms.
- Serious allergic reactions: Anaphylaxis, angioedema, and severe hives have occurred. Stop the injection and get emergency care immediately if these happen.
- Severe eczema-like skin reactions: Some patients develop serious skin eruptions during treatment. These may require stopping Cosentyx to resolve.
- Latex sensitivity: The Sensoready pen and some prefilled syringes contain natural rubber latex — alert your healthcare team if you have a latex allergy.
- Live vaccines: Avoid live vaccines while taking Cosentyx. Get all recommended vaccinations up to date before starting treatment.
🔀What it interacts with▾
Cosentyx has a notable interaction category to be aware of with other medications:
- CYP450 enzyme substrates: Inflammation itself affects how the liver processes certain drugs. When Cosentyx reduces inflammation, it can change blood levels of medications broken down by liver CYP450 enzymes — potentially making them more or less effective or increasing side effects. Your doctor may need to monitor levels or adjust doses of any such medications when you start or stop Cosentyx.
- Live vaccines: Cosentyx may alter the immune response to live vaccines, making them less effective or potentially unsafe. Live vaccines should be avoided during treatment.
This is not a complete list of interactions. Always talk with your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping, or changing any medication.
📋Before taking it▾
- You should not use Cosentyx if you have had a serious allergic reaction (including anaphylaxis) to secukinumab or any ingredient in Cosentyx
- Tell your doctor about any active infections — Cosentyx should not be started until infections are resolved
- TB testing is required before starting; latent TB needs treatment first
- Tell your doctor if you have Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis — Cosentyx can make these worse
- Cosentyx is not recommended for patients with active viral hepatitis; report any signs of hepatitis B reactivation
- Alert your care team if you are latex-sensitive — some Cosentyx delivery devices contain natural rubber latex
- If you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, discuss the risks with your doctor; there is limited human pregnancy safety data
- It is unknown whether secukinumab passes into breast milk — weigh the benefits of breastfeeding against any potential risk with your doctor
- IV infusion of Cosentyx has not been approved or studied in pediatric patients
- Older adults (65+) did not show different safety or efficacy in trials, though numbers were limited
🚑If you take too much▾
If you think you or someone else has received too much Cosentyx, monitor closely for any signs of side effects or unusual symptoms. The label recommends contacting the Poison Help line (1-800-222-1222) or a medical toxicologist for guidance on what to do next.
📡Pharmacodynamics — effects in the body▾
Elevated IL-17A levels are found in psoriatic skin plaques and in hidradenitis suppurativa lesions. Treatment with Cosentyx may reduce the number of inflammatory immune cells (neutrophils) in psoriatic skin and lower local IL-17A levels in plaques. Interestingly, total IL-17A levels measured in the bloodstream actually increase after treatment begins — this is because the drug binds to IL-17A and keeps it circulating longer, even though it is now blocked from causing harm.
🔬Pharmacokinetics — how your body processes it▾
After a subcutaneous injection, secukinumab reaches peak blood levels in about 6 days. It is absorbed with a bioavailability of roughly 55–77%, meaning most of what is injected reaches circulation. The drug has a long half-life of approximately 22–31 days, which is why monthly maintenance dosing is generally sufficient. Secukinumab is broken down by the body through normal protein degradation pathways — the same way the body handles its own antibodies — and is not primarily processed by the liver's drug-metabolizing enzymes. Body weight affects how quickly the drug is cleared, which is why pediatric dosing is weight-based.
📦How to store it▾
Refrigerate COSENTYX at 2ºC to 8ºC (36ºF to 46ºF). protect from light until the time of use. Do not freeze.
📄 Written from Secukinumab Injection’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Every point is grounded in that labeling — nothing is invented. How we use AI →
🩺 Pharmacist Counseling Corner
Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Secukinumab Injection — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
What exactly is Cosentyx used for — and is it right for me? ▾
How do I take Cosentyx, and can I do it myself at home? ▾
What side effects should I expect, and which ones mean I need to call my doctor? ▾
Do I need to do anything before I start Cosentyx? ▾
Is Cosentyx safe during pregnancy or while breastfeeding? ▾
Are there medicines I should avoid while taking Cosentyx? ▾
Is Secukinumab Injection available over the counter? ▾
When was Secukinumab Injection first available? ▾
💬 Answers drafted from Secukinumab Injection’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Grounded in that labeling — nothing is made up. How we use AI →
🧰 Keep exploring
💊 How Secukinumab Injection comes
Secukinumab Injection is available in 1 form. Different forms and brands can have different approved uses, doses, schedules, and directions. Follow the instructions for your exact product, and do not switch forms without guidance from your prescriber or pharmacist.
Injection
How this form is used
- Cosentyx subcutaneous injection treats moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in adults and children 6 years and older
- Cosentyx subcutaneous injection treats active psoriatic arthritis in adults and children 2 years and older; IV infusion is approved for adults with PsA only
- Cosentyx subcutaneous injection treats active ankylosing spondylitis in adults and children 12 and older; IV infusion is approved for adults with AS only
- Cosentyx subcutaneous injection treats moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa in adults and children 12 and older who weigh at least 30 kg
- Cosentyx subcutaneous injections are typically given weekly at the start of therapy, then every 4 weeks for ongoing maintenance; some adults with hidradenitis suppurativa may dose every 2 weeks
- Cosentyx intravenous infusion is for adults with PsA, AS, or nr-axSpA only, must be diluted before use, and is administered by a healthcare professional over 30 minutes
- Cosentyx subcutaneous injections should be rotated to a different site each time — upper arms, thighs, or abdomen — and never injected into skin that is tender, bruised, red, or affected by psoriasis
- Pediatric patients should not self-inject Cosentyx; a trained adult caregiver must prepare and administer the subcutaneous dose
📊 Secukinumab Injection across the U.S. market
How Secukinumab Injection appears in the FDA’s National Drug Code Directory — including its dosage forms, strengths, brand names, manufacturers, and FDA-listed product records. These are directory records, not sales or prescription volume.
📈 How widely Secukinumab Injection is used
A general measure of how commonly Secukinumab Injection is prescribed, based on Medicaid — one of the largest public drug programs. The figure below is prescriptions filled in Q1–Q4 2025, summed across every form and brand of the drug.
Think of this as a proxy for how widely Secukinumab Injection is used, drawn from freely available public data. Medicaid is just one program — these numbers don’t include Medicare, other government coverage, or commercial and cash-pay prescriptions, so real-world use is higher than what’s shown here.
How commonly is Secukinumab Injection prescribed? Of the 1,596 medications we measure, Secukinumab Injection ranks #435 by Medicaid prescriptions — more than 73% of them.
Utilization by Secukinumab Injection product
Pick a product to see its own Medicaid numbers. Each chip is one clinical product — a specific strength & dosage form as defined by RxNorm — with brand-name and generic versions combined.
2 ML secukinumab 150 MG/ML Auto-Injector Most dispensed
Summed across the 1 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2637347
1 ML secukinumab 150 MG/ML Auto-Injector
Summed across the 2 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 1653241
1 ML secukinumab 150 MG/ML Prefilled Syringe
Summed across the 2 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 1599792
5 ML secukinumab 25 MG/ML Injection
Summed across the 1 of 1 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2667419
0.5 ML secukinumab 150 MG/ML Prefilled Syringe
Summed across the 1 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2550712
Shares are of the Medicaid prescriptions shown here. Product grouping follows RxNorm (the National Library of Medicine’s drug terminology), so “one product” means one strength & dosage form regardless of manufacturer. Dollar figures are gross Medicaid reimbursement before mandatory rebates — rebates (often large, especially for brand-name drugs) are confidential, so actual net cost to Medicaid is lower than shown.
Source: Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data (CMS), aggregated by generic ingredient — summed across every NDC (all brands, strengths, salt forms and dosage forms) of Secukinumab Injection, and across all states and both fee-for-service and managed-care claims. A general popularity signal; it excludes Medicare, commercial insurance and cash prescriptions, so it is not total U.S. use. Based on the 7 of 9 listed Secukinumab Injection NDCs with Medicaid activity.
🔍 Compare Secukinumab Injection products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Secukinumab Injection — across manufacturers, strengths, and dosage forms, grouped by form with each product’s manufacturer and how the FDA approved it. The same medicine may be made and packaged by different companies, so a single drug can have many directory entries. (It’s also why a refill can look different — a new shape, color, or box — even though it contains the same medication.)
| Strength | Route | Manufacturer / Labeler | Category ⓘ | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💊Injection | ||||
| 25 mg/mL | Intravenous | Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation × 3 listings | BLA | View NDC → |
| 75 mg/0.5 mL | Subcutaneous | Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation × 4 listings | BLA | View NDC → |
| 150 mg/mL | Subcutaneous | Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation × 4 listings | BLA | View NDC → |
| 300 mg/2 mL | Subcutaneous | Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation × 3 listings | BLA | View NDC → |
Showing 14 of 14 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 14 Secukinumab Injection NDCs →
📈 What people report — real-world data (FDA FAERS)
After a medicine reaches the market, patients, doctors and drugmakers can send the FDA reports of problems they think may be linked to it. Here’s what’s been reported for Secukinumab Injection — a signal of what to watch for, not proof the drug caused it.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). These are voluntary reports — they don’t prove the drug caused the effect, and counts reflect how often something was reported, not how often it actually happens. Reports also often name the very problem the medicine is taken for — a common reason to file one is that the drug didn’t help — so for a pain reliever you may see “pain” high on the list; that points to why the report was filed, not to the drug causing the symptom. This counts every report that lists Secukinumab Injection in any role, so the total runs higher than the FDA’s official dashboard, which counts only cases where the drug is the suspect. For the authoritative figures, see the FDA FAERS Public Dashboard. Always talk to your pharmacist or doctor.
🏛️ The road to your pharmacy
How Secukinumab Injection went from FDA review to the pharmacy shelf — the key milestones in its regulatory journey.
Source: Drugs@FDA.
🚨 Recall history
A recall is when a specific batch of a medicine is pulled from the market — usually a manufacturing issue, not a problem with the drug itself. Class I is most serious, Class III least.
Source: openFDA drug enforcement (recall) reports.
RxNorm Concept Web — From Ingredient to Every Form and Strength
This page starts with one ingredient concept (IN). The branches below show its dose-form concepts (SCDF), then the available clinical drug and strength concepts (SCD). Combination products remain separate concepts with their own pages.
RxCUI 1599788 3 dose forms · 5 strengths
-
Dose form (SCDF) Auto-Injector RxCUI 1653240In current FDA listingsClinical drug / strength (SCD) 1 ML secukinumab 150 MG/MLRxCUI 16532412 ML secukinumab 150 MG/MLRxCUI 2637347 -
Dose form (SCDF) Injection RxCUI 2667418In current FDA listingsClinical drug / strength (SCD) 5 ML secukinumab 25 MG/MLRxCUI 2667419 -
Dose form (SCDF) Prefilled Syringe RxCUI 1599791No current FDA listingClinical drug / strength (SCD) 0.5 ML secukinumab 150 MG/MLRxCUI 25507121 ML secukinumab 150 MG/MLRxCUI 1599792
Look up RxCUI 1599788 in the RxCUI Atlas →
RxNorm is the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s normalized drug vocabulary. Its concept hierarchy can include forms that are not currently marketed; the status on each branch compares that concept with current FDA listings. RxCUIs identify vocabulary concepts, not individual packages or manufacturers.
📦 Supply & shortage status
Whether Secukinumab Injection is in short supply in the U.S. right now, plus any shortage history the FDA has on record. A shortage usually reflects a manufacturing or demand issue — not a safety problem with the drug.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Drug Shortages database.
🏷️ Sold under these brand names
🏭 Manufacturers & labelers
RxNorm drug class
Secukinumab Injection belongs to the Interleukin-17A Antagonist class.
Classified by RxNorm RxClass — the U.S. National Library of Medicine's standardized drug-classification service (Established Pharmacologic Class from the FDA, the ATC drug family from the WHO, and mechanism of action). Reference only, not medical advice.
🔬 Where this comes from
Core label, product, RxNorm, safety, and utilization data on this page come from the sources identified below. AI-written, editorial, and licensed sections are labeled separately.
How we combine label and product data
HelloPharmacist combines public FDA and NLM records; we don’t author the underlying clinical facts. We identified 1 FDA-filed SPL label set within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. The representative label is the starting point for the displayed reference monograph; the 12 largest stored in-scope SPL records, which may include that representative, are compared section by section, and the longest available version of each section is retained. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, product-listed strengths, and product-record counts are aggregated separately from ingredient-matched FDA NDC Directory records; package records listed above are associated with the linked SPL; and the normalized concept hierarchy comes from NLM RxNorm.
Where a section is identified as AI-written, its plain-language text is generated from bounded label evidence. New draft drug pages remain in the admin review queue before first publication. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation is the representative DailyMed label linked for verification and dates; it is not the sole source used for the page.
This is general education, not medical advice — always consult your doctor or pharmacist about your medications and any medical condition. For the exact wording of the linked representative label, view that label on DailyMed; some displayed composite sections may come from other in-scope SPL labels. Learn how we use AI and our data sources & update cadence.